


Another Beginning

by CaptainSwanCursedKisses



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 23:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1567955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSwanCursedKisses/pseuds/CaptainSwanCursedKisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Swan AU: What if Emma didn't go through foster care but lived in an orphanage and what if Killian and his big brother Liam lived in an orphanage as well. What if the windows to their rooms opened up directly across from one another and the distance between the buildings were a mere 2 feet? Young Emma and young Killian meet at a young age and grow up together…through their window.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

Chapter 1: The Meeting

"Emma, can you open the window please? It's getting hot in here."

"Sure, Melissa."

Emma moved to open the window of the bedroom that she shared with her roommate Melissa. Both girls were 13 years old and orphans since birth. For years the two of them would go in and out of foster homes until they were sent to live in the Boston home for girls, Melissa 6 months ago and Emma about 2 months ago.

For the first time since moving there, Emma opened the window and noticed that it looked out onto another window just barely 2 feet away. From where she is standing she could see two young boys sitting in the room reading comic books.

"Hey Melissa, look! There is another window right across from ours! There are two boys over there! I wonder if that is an apartment building."

"It's not, that's another orphanage, uh, I think that's the Boston home for Boys. I've seen the room before but I've never seen anyone in the room before. Quick, throw this paper clip, see if they will open the window."

Emma turned to Melissa's desk that held her homework on top, picking up the paperclip that fell off a bunch of papers. Turning back to the window she handed the paper clip to Melissa.

"Here, you do it."

Melissa took the paper clip from Emma and threw it at the window but it barely made a sound before falling to the ground.

"Emma, why don't you just reach over and knock? It's not that far and you have longer arms."

Her arm did in fact reach across, comfortably, and she knocked firmly but softly on the window.

They watched as the two boys in the other room jerked their heads away from their comic books and looked at the window.

Melissa gave them a big smile and wave as Emma stood back and blushed, she has always been one of the shy ones.

The smaller of the two boys stood and moved to the window, opening it with a big smile on his face.

"Hi! Who are you?" came a loud voice with a slight hint of an Irish accent.

"Hi, I'm Melissa and this is Emma! What's your name?"

"I'm Killian and that's my big brother Liam. Are you two sisters?"

Emma smiled at Killian, he was definitely one of the cuter boys she has seen in her short life.

"No, we're just roommates. We're, uh, we're both orphans."

"Us too, we just moved here. We're both originally from Ireland but our parents died a couple years ago and we ended up in the system."

The three were interrupted by Liam coming over and shaking on Killian's shoulder, trying to drag his attention away from the two girls across the way.

"Killian, Mr. Jackson is calling for us, it's time to head down for lunch."

Liam turned and without addressing the others, left the room. Killian, embarrassed about his brother's rudeness, turned to his new friends with red cheeks and downturned eyes.

"Sorry about Liam, he's not very friendly now a days. He thinks he's too cool to hang around me all the time, with him being 15 years old and me being only 13 years old."

"You're 13 years old? So are we!"

Emma could tell that Melissa was really interested in Killian and for some reason that upset her. Melissa is more outgoing than her and is much prettier than her.

"That's so cool! Well, I hate to leave but they will get made if I am any later to lunch. We should do this more often! There's nothing much to do for fun around here, so it will be pretty awesome to hang out with each other, you know, through our windows!"

The girls laughed and agreed with their new friend and bid him farewell. The two talked about their encounter for the rest of the day until going to sleep.

That night as she lay in her bed, Emma thought about the boy across the way and couldn't help but smile. She hoped they did get to hang out again, living in an orphanage can become really depressing, so having a friend to talk to who understood exactly what she is going through would get wonderful.

What she didn't know at that time was that her meeting the boys across the hall would change the way that she would live the rest of her life. The two would become to be so important to her that they would be like family, something that she had never had before.


	2. Abandonment Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time continues and Emma and Killian get closer and closer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know these are really short entries but I promise to make the next ones longer.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Every day after school Melissa and Emma would race back to the Boston home for Girls, quickly do their chores and run up to their room to hang out with Killian and sometimes Liam if he wasn't acting too cool to hang out with younger kids.

They became fast friends and looked forward to seeing each other every day. This lasted for months, even when it got incredibly cold and seemed ridiculous to spend hours with the window open, but the orphans wouldn't have it any other way.

Then, one day after school Melissa didn't return to the orphanage. She didn't show up for dinner or lights out that night either.

Concerned, Emma went to the director of the home and asked about her friend as soon as she got back from school the next day.

"Melissa went to go live with her Aunt. We got word from her Aunt a couple days ago and once all the paper work was completed we put Melissa on a bus to Tennessee where she lives."

"Oh. Ok."

Feeling abandoned, for what felt like the hundredth time in her life, Emma returned to her room to break the news to Killian. When she got there she saw that all of Melissa's belongings were gone and Killian was already waiting for her at his window.

Moving over to the window, she slumped in her chair and opened it.

"Hey Blondie, any news of Melissa?"

"Yeah. She's gone, she has gone to live with her Aunt in Tennessee. I never even knew she had an Aunt!" Emma was obviously upset, living her life going in and out of foster homes and then living in an orphanage has left her with severe abandonment issues.

"Maybe she didn't know she had an Aunt either, you know how these things happen."

"I know." Emma laid her head down on the windowsill with a sigh and tears in her eyes.

Seeing this, Killian gave her a reassuring smile and reaches his arm across to her.

"It's ok, love, I'll never leave you behind. Once Liam and I can spring out of this joint we are going to take you with us!"

Giving him a small smile, Emma reached her arm out and grasped his hand tightly.

"Promise?"

"Promise!

They remained that way, with hands clasped, until the sky grew dark and they both grew tired. They finally said their "good nights" and retired to their beds but were both unable to fall asleep for a long time. The two have been friends for months now without ever actually being in the same room and now they couldn't stand the idea of not having the other in their life.

Losing Melissa without even a goodbye scared the two but ultimately gave strength to their friendship.

Years passed and their ritual remained, every day after school and their chores they would meet at their window and spend hours talking and helping each other with their homework. Emma would get new roommates but they never lasted long, some were older and would become old enough to go on their own or some would be younger and would eventually either switch rooms or go into foster care, no one ever lasted long in that room, only Emma.

Killian and Liam remained together in their room and Liam would occasionally join in on their conversations but soon got old enough to get a job so most of the time it was just Emma and Killian alone together talking through their windows, most of the time with their hands intertwined and handing between the two buildings.

Things remained that way until the day that Liam turned 18 years old and was able to leave the orphanage and take legal guardianship of Killian, who along with Emma was now 16 years old.


	3. Leaving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when Liam get's old enough to take guardianship over Killian and wants to leave town? What will happen to Emma?

"We're moving to Maine."

The words were like a slap in the face.

"What?"

"We're moving to Maine, we leave tomorrow. Now that Liam is 18 years old he can leave here and he petitioned to be my guardian and they approved it and he just got off the phone from a friend of his who we knew a couple of years ago. He's giving Liam a job at a pier, helping to repair boats and tackle and stuff."

Emma just sat in her chair, her hand slipping away from his as they hung between the buildings, completely dumbfounded. She could feel the fear and pain ripping through her body; they were leaving her just like everyone else has. She will be alone, again.

She ducked her head so he wouldn't see the tears that started falling down her face.

"You promised. You promised me you wouldn't leave me behind and that's exactly what you're doing. I'm going to be all alone again." Her voice faltered and ended in a harsh whisper as her tears turned to sobs. She wanted to turn away from them and shield herself from the hurt but she couldn't stop the pleading words from coming out of her mouth.

"I don't want you to go! What am I going to do without you? Please don't go Killian, please! Do you have any idea how much you mean to me…"

"Yes!"

Killian's voice rang out strong and loud and echoed off the buildings around them.

Lifting her head she saw that he was fighting tears of his own and was reaching his hand out to her, pleading with his eyes for her to reach for him again.

Slowly, she let her hand drift back through the window and out to grasp his. His hand a slightly rough against her smooth skin, signs of his hobby of making word carvings and working with his hands. She had a shelf full of different carvings that he has made for her over the years. He grasped her hand tightly, his thumb running over the spot between her thumb and pointer finger.

"Yes Emma, I do understand what I mean to you because you mean just as much and more to me. I don't want to leave you Emma but I have to go with Liam, he is my brother and we need each other."

"I understand…"

He cut her off before she could continue.

"No, I don't think you do. We want you to come with us; I want you to come with us."

Time stopped.

He wasn't leaving her!

He wanted her to go with him!

He wanted to take her away from the terrible life of living in an orphanage!

A huge smile broke out on her face and she saw it mirrored on Killian.

But then her stomach sank and more tears fell from her eyes. She quickly dropped his hand and sank back into her chair, covering her face with her hands.

"Emma, what's wrong? Do you not want to go with us?"

"I can't!" she exclaimed. She was crying so hard, she was on the verge of hysterics.

"Why?"

Emma wiped the tears from her face and tried to calm her breathing. When she finally got it under control, she found herself struggling with a bad case of the hiccups.

"Liam was able to get guardianship over you, not me. The two of you are free to move to Maine but I am stuck here for another two years! That's why I can't go with you, I'm a prisoner here."

The two of them were quiet for several minutes; the only sounds they heard were the sounds of the city around them. Finally, it was Liam who broke the silence.

"Emma, just leave. Pack everything you can carry in your backpack and tomorrow morning when you are allowed to leave to go to school, meet us two blocks down from our building, on the corner of 8th and Adams. I know someone who can make fake IDs and birth certificates; we can have documents made up so that you can start a new life, with us, in Maine. We will be in a different state and they will just consider you a runaway so they won't look that hard, we've all seen it happen before. If you can get a job when we settle, I don't see why you can't come with us. I found a house to rent for pretty cheap right near the pier, three bedrooms, one of them can be yours. What do you say?"

Emma had never loved Liam so much than she did at this very moment.

"Liam, prepare yourself for the biggest huge you will ever get tomorrow morning! Thank you so much! I don't know how I can ever thank you!"

"Just pull your own weight when we get to Maine. I might ask you to help with dinners and cleaning around the house but don't worry, all three of us will take turns with that. I won't leave you to have to cook and clean every day. "

Killian grabbed his brother in a huge hug, thanking him over and over again.

Liam's heart broke as he watched Emma break down after Killian told her of their impending move and he couldn't help but notice the helplessness in Killian's face after Emma brought up the fact that Liam only had guardianship of him and not her as well.

He knew that her leaving and moving with them wouldn't be an issue as long as he got her a new name and new documentation, he heard about so many people who did that to get away from the system, so it was a no brainer to ask her to come along. He knew, maybe before Killian even knew, how much his brother really loves the blonde orphan across the window and he could see every day just how much she loved his brother right back.

It wouldn't take long for their feelings to come to the surface once they reach Maine, but that was something they would have to tackle once they were there.

Turning back to Emma and his brother, who were both talking about their excitement, and suggested that they both use this time to shower, pack, and get some sleep since the next few days were going to be long ones.

The next morning, Emma was finishing up cleaning her room, making sure that she had everything she wanted and was leaving behind things she didn't need. Once she was ready she pulled on her coat and book bag and made her way out of the Boston home for Girls for the very last time.

Her nerves were on high alert and she was sure that someone was going to look at her and realize immediately what she was planning to do. So once she left the building she decided to start walking her normal route to school, just in case anyone from the orphanage was watching her. Then, once she was a few blocks away she hurriedly changed her course and started making her way towards the spot that Liam told her to meet them at.

When she was about a block away she saw them and then started running… right into Killian's arms.

For the first time since they met each other 4 years ago, Emma and Killian (and don't forget Liam) were face to face. The orphanages kept the boys and girls separate at all times, the girls went to an all-girls school and the boys went to an all-boys school, and their outside areas were on different sides so that they would never mix together.

Pulling out of their hug, Emma quickly turned and fulfilled her promise to Liam, she did indeed give him the biggest hug he has ever received. The entire time she was whispering, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Ok ok ok ok ! Enough hugging! Let's get going, we have a decent drive ahead of us and I think we should try to get out of Boston before the school calls and tattles on you."

"Great idea but Liam, I how are we getting to Maine? "

Killian pulled Emma close to him, just a little bit jealous over how long Emma was hugging Liam, and pulled her in front of a small black car.

"This is how we are getting to Maine! Liam knew a guy at his job who was selling and he offered him a really good deal. It took nearly all the money he was saving to pay for it but it was worth it."

Quickly, the three of them piled into the car, Killian opting to sit in the back with Emma which only made her smile more and Liam want to make fake puking motions.

Soon they were on the road with the radio loud and the windows down, enjoying their first taste of real freedom in a very long time.

"So Liam, what's the name of the place we are moving to?"

"Storybrooke."

**Author's Note:**

> I was considering making this it's own story but I decided to make it into a series. I will do updates on this story until Emma and Hook are a lot older.
> 
> If you liked this or have ideas as to where you would like this to go please let me know! I will take any suggestions and try to work them into the story!
> 
> Please Review! And thanks for reading!


End file.
